The Beginning of the End
by Karrae
Summary: Someone unexpected literally falls into Willow's life, involving her in the conclusion of a war she knows nothing about. WillowSeverus BtVSHP xover
1. It's Raining Old Men

'It's raining old men.' That strange thought began what was in no way the strangest day of Willow's life. She had been carefully tending her garden, an activity highly recommended by the coven to help her avoid future little mishaps like her attempt to destroy the world, when an old man landed in front of her with an alarming thump. She froze for a moment before launching forward to check his pulse. To her great relief, she found one.

After casting a healing spell on him Willow was left to contemplate exactly what to do. He looked harmless enough. Actually, he looked like Gandalf, with his long white hair, beard, and what appeared to be a wizard costume. Still, years of living on the Hellmouth did not exactly lead to the kind of openness and trust where one lets just anyone into their home. Besides, falling from the empty sky just isn't the kind of thing that happens to normal people. 

Her friends were all out of town, on their own missions to find and train the activated slayers. She would be risking no one but herself. If she had to defend herself, well, there were very few things these days that could harm her. To leave a wounded old man lying in her herb garden or not to leave him there, it was a ridiculous question. She sighed, stood up, and levitated him along behind her. He passed through her wards and into her home without setting anything off. That was a good sign. She settled him onto her couch and placed a blanket over him. All that was left to do was waiting. He awoke nearly five hours later.

"Where am I?" The soft question had Willow out of her reading chair and across the room to stare warily into confused blue eyes within seconds. He still didn't look evil, he looked lost.

"You're in the outskirts of Los Angelus. Do you remember how you got here?"

"I... he trailed off and stared blankly into space, "No, I don't remember."

"Well, um, hi! I'm Willow, nice to meet you."

"Willow? I don't know you?"

"Nope, the first time I saw you was when you dropped into my garden this morning."

"So, you don't know who I am?"

"No." Willow studied him. He looked serious. Did that mean he didn't know who he was either? Probably. This was so very not good. It didn't look like he was going to reply. It was time to change the subject. "Would you like some dinner?" 


	2. Sightseeing in Willow's Backyard

The explosion was alarmingly close to his head. Snape darted down an ally silently cursing all do-gooders and their non-existent ability to see shades of grey. Or maybe they could, since he was a shade of gray and they'd clearly managed to spot him. 

"He went that way!" Oh, good, one of the Aurors had located him already. They had found him quickly this time and he was running out of the many various paths that had been laid out to aide his escape. He had apparated from Hogwarts to Spain, from Spain to Germany, from Germany to Japan, from Japan to Russia... wherever he went didn't seem to matter. They found him within days, weeks at best.

His next apparation was to the United States. It was his last stop. So far, nothing had gone as planned. If this didn't work out he'd have to build an escape plan from scratch. Four men rounded the corner just as Snape completed the spell and disappeared from sight.

He reappeared in the center of what appeared to be miles of scorched rock and dirt. He frowned. Where was the town? It was called… Sunnyville or Sundale or something of that nature and it was supposed to be right here. Perhaps something had gone wrong with the spell. He cast it again. The scenery didn't change in the least. That was just perfect. The final safe house was actually a gigantic hole in the ground.

It looked like he'd have to create a Plan E after all. The Aurors seemed to be tracking his apparation spell. It was possible that with the right materials he could make a potion that would distort his presence more. The problem was, where does one find those materials in the muggle world? It looked like he would have to take a chance and force the nearest witch or wizard to help him. After a basic search spell and a quick consultation with the map he always had on hand these days Severus Snape cast one more spell, to take him to Los Angelus.

The scene that greeted him there stunned him. Albus Dumbledore was gardening with some little red headed muggle girl. He looked awfully cheerful for a man who was supposed to be dead.

"Is this going to become a habit? Strange men appearing in my garden, I mean. Should I get a dog? Oh! I could get a cute little one. But, that would defeat the purpose of having a dog, wouldn't it..."

"Is this going anywhere in my lifetime?" Snape cut the annoying girl off before he was forced to curse her into silence. She didn't look at all phased by his look or his tone.

"What are you doing in my garden?"

"Sightseeing," he replied dryly and turned to study Dumbledore. Why hadn't the old man said anything yet? "What do you think you're doing?" he demanded.

"Do you know me?" Dumbledore asked with obvious surprise. Snape studied him, looking for a sign that it was just a ruse to use in the presence of this muggle. He'd have to be vague until he had a better understanding of the situation.

"I've known you for years."

"Really? That's great! What's his name? I've just been calling him Gandalf because, well, I guess that's obvious."

"You don't know who he is? But he's staying with you?"

The girl frowned at him. "It seemed like a good idea at the time."

This girl had to be one of the stupidest people he had ever met and he had met a lot of stupid people. This was a waste of his time. He turned back to Dumbledore. "We should go now."

"Should we? I don't know who you are." Dumbledore wasn't helping the situation at all.

"Exactly! He's not going anywhere with you until you explain!"

"It's a long story. Very boring. You don't want to hear it."

"Sure I do. I'll make tea." As the girl headed back towards her house Snape checked again for some kind of sign from Dumbledore that this was all a sick joke. Fortune, as always, was not smiling on him. Dumbledore was studying him with curiosity but no recognition.

"Are you coming?" Dumbledore immediately went to the door where the girl was waiting. Snape begrudgingly followed. She stood back and allowed them both inside. Snape noted that she didn't even have the basic manners required to invite someone in.

As she poured what he didn't doubt was sub-par tea into coffee mugs Snape attempted to sort out a story that he could actually tell in her presence. It probably didn't matter how much she heard. What could a little muggle girl living half a world away do with the information anyway?

"I'm Willow."

"So?"

"So... who are you?"

"Severus Snape. And that is Albus Dumbledore." The girl, Willow, beamed at Dumbledore and tried out his name a few times. Snape thought it was nauseating. "He's the headmaster at Hogwarts, a school for witches and wizards. I'm a teacher there."

"A magic school? That's so neat! But, how did he get here?"

"I don't know. The last time I saw him, he looked dead. They held the funeral several weeks ago."


	3. A Great Deal of Consideration

"That day, Dumbledore and I tried to fight off the Death Eaters that had been let into the school. We thought we had won when one of them hit him with the curse." Snape stared pensively into his coffee mug.

"That's terrible!" Willow hated to think of someone trying to kill her new friend.

"That's why he needs to come back with me to Hogwarts."

"I think Gand… Dumbledore should stay here with me until he regains his memory. If that many people are really trying to kill him then he'd be safer here since they think he's dead."

"I assure you, we're perfectly capable of protecting him."

"You didn't before."

Dumbledore watched the two of them talk about him as though they'd completely forgotten he was in the room. He leaned back in his chair, the movement causing Snape to refocus his attention.

"As I'm sure you must realize, many people are greatly upset by your death. You should return with me immediately."

"Hm. I have been giving it a great deal of consideration and…" Dumbledore trailed of and watched them with a thoughtfulness that Willow found disturbing for a reason she couldn't name.

"Well?"

"I think you two would make a great couple." Dumbledore finished.

The two stared at him as though he'd lost his mind.

"You even have the same expression right now! It's a perfect match!"

"Perhaps he should go with you." Willow said at last.

"Perhaps you should keep him." Snape replied.

"Really? Good! Then it's settled. He'll stay here while he recovers." Willow stood up and began collecting the cups.

"That's not…"

"Where can we contact you? I'll let you know as soon as he regains his memory."

"I can't just leave him here."

"Here, you can write your number on this paper." Will began rummaging through her drawers looking for a pen.

"I don't know where I'm going to be tonight, much less where I'll be when he finally remembers who he is." Snape was irritated by the girl's transparent attempt to get rid of him.

"You could stay here," offered Dumbledore.

"What?" Willow spun towards him.

"There's more then one guest room here. Since he doesn't have any place to stay, why not here?"

"Because…" Willow trailed off, not sure how to say what she wanted to say with the man standing right there.

"I'll stay here."

"Excellent. I'll show you to the room."

"Wait! He can't!"

"Right this way."

"Stop!" Willow stared in frustration as she was completely ignored and the two men walked down the hall towards her guest bedroom. Willow contemplated using her magic to kick Snape out. Of course, it might be better to have him where she could keep an eye on him. Something about his description of the battle where Dumbledore was cursed wasn't ringing true, she just wasn't sure exactly what he was lying about.


	4. The Wrong Thing to Say

Willow glared at the cup sitting on her kitchen table as though it had gone out of its way to wrong her. Actually, she was fairly certain that the man who left it there _was_ going out of his way to wrong her. He had been staying with her for three days now and he had yet to pick up a single thing he used. Willow snatched up the cup and stormed off towards her living room.

"I am not your mother!" She declared.

Snape hid his confusion behind a scowl as he tried to work out what, exactly, the crazy muggle was going on about now. "Certainly not. You are not fit to kneel at my mother's feet." He watched her turn a very amusing shade of red. What was she going on about? They'd been getting along fairly well for the last several days, if you counted all the time they spent avoiding each other.

"Who do you think is going to clean this up? The cleaning fairies?"

Snape was well aware of the fact that muggles had to pick up after themselves but he was so used to not having to do so that he'd forgotten. Still, he certainly was not going to admit out loud that he'd made a mistake or apologize which meant there was only one solution to this problem. "No. I expect you to do it."

It was, he later reflected, the wrong thing to say.

A girl whose intimidation abilities he would have likened to those of small woodland animals and baby chicks suddenly became something else entirely. Her eyes went completely black and her hair was rapidly darkening as well. He stood quickly, wand in hand, a curse on his lips. It was a curse that never left his lips as he was flung like a rag doll against the wall, his wand clattering to the ground.

"My, I didn't take you to be into that kind of thing." It was only the intervention of a seemingly amnesiac old man that saved him. Willow turned to stare at Dumbledore, her brain attempting to scrub itself clean of the implications of that sentence, and Snape fell to the floor with a thud.

"That's… that's not what is happening here at all!" Willow exclaimed, sounding completely horrified by the thought. Snape stared at the now red haired, green eyed girl and attempted to reconcile her with the evil creature that had attacked him only moments before. Willow caught him at it and decided it was time for a strategic retreat "I… need to do something over there." She said as she scurried off towards the kitchen.

Dumbledore watched her go thoughtfully. "You really should make more of an effort, you're never going to win her over that way," he chided Snape as he moved to follow her.

Snape didn't deem that bit of nonsense worthy of a response and instead focused on the bigger issue of figuring out what, exactly, he was dealing with. He had extensive knowledge of the dark arts and yet couldn't think of one demon that matched what he had just witnessed. Dumbledore didn't seem at all bothered by it or inclined to leave. Snape narrowed his eyes. He had little choice but to do whatever it took to find out what he was dealing with. Willow would find he made a formidable opponent.

Willow, concerned that she might be backsliding into darkness, numbly went to work baking apology cookies.

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Authors Note: I would develop things more slowly but, really, at the rate I get around to writing, this story wouldn't get finished in the next 100 years.


End file.
